Pages

Monday, 29 July 2013

Pumps, flats, heels, kitten, wedges, slippers, sandals, boots, brogues, platforms, flatforms. Women have a lot to choose from when it comes to footwear. Naturally, I love shoes but since living in London and being car-less, it's not practical for me to run around the city in for long periods of time in ill-fitting shoes. I want some shoes that are stylish and comfortable, hence the sneakers.

Tuesday, 23 July 2013

Last year, I came across ITV's Perfect Party Dress competition where the winner would have their design manufactured and sold in John Lewis over the Christmas period.

At this point, I had just moved to London and didn't have any of my drawing equipment so I sent in an old design and just changed some of the fabrics to fit the criteria. A few days later, I got a phone call from someone at ITV saying that I'd been shortlisted and if I was available for filming within the next 2 weeks!

I designed this about 3 years ago, I did it after a short course in learning how to use Adobe Illustrator and I wanted to try my hand at technical drawings. On the day of filming, I arrived at ITV studios in the morning and met the other 9 finalists, everyone was lovely but I had my eye on one guy, Stephen Arthur. He was the only male in the competition and he had no professional experience but he had a vision and passion - he actually ended up winning and is doing really well for himself!

Anyway, the camera man took us onto Southbank and made us walk up and down, taking different shots. They ranged from 'serious' to 'we're all mates having a good time' to 'I like to wonder out into the distance contemplating life.' After filming, we met with a seamstress who discussed fabric and construction with us before presenting our designs to the judges. There were a few questions asked about my design - like why was the zip made a feature? is it going to be boned? All issues resolved and it was presentation time.

The judges were Amy Molyneaux and Percy Parker from PPQ, head of buying for womenswear at John Lewis and stylist Faye Sawyer from This Morning. We presented our work individually and were asked about inspiration, target market, construction, fabric choices etc. From what I could gather, my design was probably more Topshop than John Lewis...